Spec bearing issues.

[King Felix]

I have a stacked PGM that up until yesterday was working phenomenally.  Then the bearing started making a lot of noise, locking up, and was generally not being its normal speccy goodness. Firstly tho, I know there are a million bearing problem posts, and Im not a noob. Here's whats been happening: I deshielded the bearing about two weeks ago. Maybes some gunk got inside, but I blew the sucker out with almost a whole can of compressed air and nothing changed.Also, the bearing seat on one side doesnt clip into the bearing as tightly as it used to, but i didn't do anything stupid so it should be still functional.  You're not *supposed* to clean a SPEC, so I kept trying to get it to work, with no change. Eventually I broke down and cleaned it with mineral spirits, which made it spin real nice for a minute or two, and then it locked up again. By the end of the night, I was doing retarded things, like running hot water thru the desheilded bearing(it should be ok tho, its stainless). Finally, I dried it and spun it on a pencil, and then decided to clean it again with mineral spirits, and I added some thin lube(trumpet valve oil, actually) cuz I figured it was locking cuz of the lack of lube. this also kinda helped, but its still semi responsive(even semi-tug responsive, which is horrifying to think of a PGM doing that). Please please please, any suggestions?

[jokers10]

I wonder if there is something in the bearing track, or the bearing track itself is damaged. It shouldn't matter that you cleaned it, unless they put some type of miniral spirit soluble insert in the bearing, which wouldn't be the smartest move. Give it a good look over and see if it still spins true, and maybe yoyofactoryben can clear up the "don't clean the SPEC bearing mystery".

[Elephark]

Even thin lubes will make it kinda responsive for a while. Assuming you've accounted for that, there may be some persistent gunk in it, or a fragment of insoluble whatever. Here's what I do in that case.

Put it on a paintbrush handle or something that'll hold it by the center. Inspect it for hairs or obvious grit and remove anything you can see carefully with an xacto knife or something of the sort. Cut out some small wedges of paper (with an angle of 20-30°) and fold them in half lengthwise to double the thickness. Firmly but very carefully insert one into the bearing between two of the balls, next to the outer race. Rotate the bearing several turns, then remove the paper. There's probably some black gunk on the paper. Do it again with a clean piece. Also insert pieces next to the inner race to scrub that as well. Repeat this until you stop getting gunk on the paper. At this point your bearing should be bone dry and very clean. If you want, you can dip a wedge in oil and touch one of the races a few times to lube it up.

I also do this right after I clean my bearings with mineral spirits, before they dry. The paper directly absorbs the liquid and helps prevent residue from building up. As long as I've been doing this, I've never locked up a bearing. In fact, I've rescued several 'dead' bearings with this method as well.

[Assassin_X]

how would you know if the bearing is locked up?

[jokers10]

not spinning freely or at all is a good sign.

[yoyofactoryben]

yoyofactoryben can clear up the "don't clean the SPEC bearing mystery".

Its a mystery to me how this legend even started. They can be cleaned... but saying that, more bearings are damaged by cleaning and de-shielding than anything else so do what-cha like.

[King Felix]

Elephark,  You are awesome. I am mildly disappointed that you haven't shared this info with many other people, cuz I checked SOOOO many "bearing issue" posts and I never gleaned that wonderful bit of wisdom from any of them. But you rule, it helped a bunch, and thanks a million. Really. I was tearing out my hair prior to this post. Anyone with bearing troubles, try this trick. It helps a TON.

[King Felix]

Oh, and yoyofactory ben, thanks also for your comments. I think MANY people are suffering this misconception, although from what I understand the SPECs work best without any fiddling. But regardless, the spec is WAY too precious to just give up on, and I'm glad I kept working at it. And I LOOOOOVE my PGM, so thanks for facilitating my hobby so well with your wonderful products. God, I'm such a brownnoser.